Frank's 98 TJ Sport

**Frank** · June 28, 2021, 2:07pm

The day I bought it home - August 2015:

The most recent picture:

It currently has as of 6/28/2021:
• Chili Pepper Red Pearlcoat
• Bestop spice soft top
• Spice interior
• Full and half doors
• Quadratec late model side mirrors
• Deluxe OEM sound bar
• Atoto A6 double-DIN touch-screen radio (Wi-Fi and GPS)
• Jensen 1000w 4-channel digital amp
• Back-up camera and front recording camera
• Custom drink holder for the wife!
• 35x12.5x15 KM3s on steelies
• 4.0L fuel injected 6-cylinder (back to OEM bellows-style manifold)
• AX-15 5-speed manual
• Ford 8.8 with Yukon Dura-grip LS rear and D30 front with Lock-Right and chromo shafts - 4.56
• Rough County 4” lift
• Rough County forged track bar with JK bushings
• Curry RockJock Currectlync
• Adjustable RC rear upper control arms
• JKS adjustable front control arms
• Dynomax 17217 Ultra-Flo Welded SS Muffler
• Power steering cooler
• Tomken steering box skid plate
• Rugged Ridge gas tank skid plate
• Warn engine skid plate (with extra angle iron added)
• Flomoto oil drain plug
• Adams rear drive shaft
• Advanced Adapters Slip Yoke Eliminator
• Rock Hard 4x4 rear bumper with tire carrier and license plate holder
• Front disconnects (home-made) and a set of JKS yet to be installed
• Custom third brake light
• Class III Reese 2” hitch
• Warn front bumper
• Warn raised winch plate
• HF 12,000 winch
• Run-Cool hood vents
• Factory fog lights
• Hella driving lights
• Auxillary windshield lights
• Auxiliary back-up light
• Life-size skeleton and skull & crossbones for Halloween (Turkey’s favorite)
• 24" LED mandatory light bar

**Frank** · June 5, 2019, 2:21pm

Bringing home the 8.8 axle

**Frank** · June 5, 2019, 2:24pm

Regearing to 4.56 from 4.10. Also added Mustang carbon-fiber clutch packs

ford_8_8_rear_end%20traction_lok_limited_slip

**Frank** · June 5, 2019, 2:28pm

The front D30 to 4.56 - NOT the easiest thing to do while still mounted to the vehicle in the driveway. Probably should have removed it to do the job.

**Frank** · June 5, 2019, 2:46pm

My favorite creation so far! The cup holder I made. I got tired of my wife’s d%$n drinking straw poking me in the hand every time I shifted.

Small PS cooler. I made a little bracket out of aluminum for it to attach to the grill support rods in front of the radiator.

Made a nice fold-down table too.

**Frank** · June 5, 2019, 2:41pm

I added a heater core shut-off for the hot summer time (when needed) with a cable control inside down below the headlight switch.

And of course what older Jeep never needs an AC evaporator replaced to fix the AC. May as well do the heater core too!

**Frank** · November 25, 2020, 1:36pm

Need to do a little updating. Switched to 35" KM3s. Replaced the header and TPS April 2019.
Regeared the rear and changed to a Yukon Duragrip carrier. Both rear control arm areas have been replaced with SafeTCap brand brackets.

**john** · April 9, 2020, 2:34am

Good work Frank!

**Tony** · April 10, 2020, 12:54am

Nice job Frank!

**Frank** · April 10, 2020, 11:41am

Thanks guys. I added a 24" LED light bar I found on clearance. I paid more for the cool mounting brackets than the light and wiring harness. I ordered a cover for it on Amazon that is black snap on 6" plastic plates that works real nice - passed state inspection yesterday too. The inspector still says he doesn’t like my light because I have too many, but he passed me anyway. I need to do front pads soon and I think I will swap the front shafts with my spare set because I’m starting to question the u-joints that are in them. Starting to see rust residue around the seals on the u-joints like they are dry.

**Frank** · October 7, 2020, 1:39pm

Broken DS and airbag deployment at The Cove. Adding here for record keeping. Replaced DS with spare, hopefully getting bags and module from Scott’s Jeep Yard in the next week.

**Frank** · August 6, 2020, 11:49am

No pix - just adding some things to the list.

I added a good set of used JKS front control arms and replaced all bolts with “new” OEM hardware from Davey’s Jeep Parts. They must have came from a NM Jeep as there was no rust. I set the arms to factory length and it feels fine. Might get an alignment done just to know where I’m at. I also welded on a pair of axle side lower control arm skids. I ran out of gas and flux-cored them on so the welds look crappy. The mounts were very beat up but after bending them back into shape I think they will be pretty good now.

**Frank** · October 7, 2020, 1:38pm

No big news, just adding some items for record keeping. I installed a “Fumoto Original F101N” oil valve to more easily change the oil. This is the one with the nipple for attaching a hose. With the Warn engine skid on, that small oval hole they give you never works, and oil hits the skid and then drips/pours/splatters from everywhere. Next time I should be able to just attach a hose and drain it out into a container. Hopefully, I might not have to do that for a year. I used a 20k mile oil filter and synthetic oil. I only put about 10k miles a year on my TJ. Worst case, I just drain the oil and fill it back up - no filter change needed.
I also installed 2" front spacers - I guess my springs are starting to fatigue. The oil pan skid is pretty heavy, add the winch and all the lights I have (haha) and it pushed the 4" lift down some. I probably only needed about 1.25" but these were free. I also fixed a rusty jounce cup that dropped the bump stop and now need to fix the other side.
Additionally, I sold the fiberglass hard uppers and picked up some full doors. Those uppers were awesome!

**Frank** · November 15, 2021, 1:15pm

Yet again, no need for pix. I’m adding this as a time reference not as a cool new upgrade. I’m replacing my front DS with a good used one from Scott’s Jeep Yard. He’s gracious enough to bring any parts I need to work with him as he works only a few miles from my house and not on the backside of Fredericksburg. I pulled all the joints out and re-greased them and gave it a new coat of paint. Probably get it installed in the next few days. If it has any vibrations, I’ll be calling Adams. I also picked up an entire hydraulic clutch assembly. Where mine hooks up to the clutch pedal it has almost wore a hole thru the pot metal connector.

Edit: The front DS was replaced with an Adams about 2 weeks later.

**Frank** · November 25, 2020, 1:33pm

Two weeks ago I did some frame repairs to the passenger side skid pan and front control area. It turned out pretty good - I trust it. Not the prettiest stuff around but matte black paint makes it look better. I used Pocono Metals parts this time for price. I have already used SafeTCap in the rear to fix/replace the control arm mounts. The brands are very similar if not almost identical. The pix show a good view of the inside of a '98 TJ frame. I don’t know if all years are built the same. I didn’t know they added reinforcements during production. I thought it was just boxed frame bent and welded up. I looks like they could have actually contributed to the rusting. Maybe during the OEM welding it burned the internal frame coating off. I had to do a lot of mangling to get all the parts off completely - a plasma cutter would have been nice. Eventually, both sides of the frame were cut away only leaving the top and about an inch and a half down each side.

Picture 1 is the front area at the lower control arm mount with some of it cut away.
Picture 2 is the notching around the body mount at the skid plate area. Look at the seam rust on the back side.
Picture 3 is the side rail along the skid plate mounting section. A good view of the OEM frame inserts.
Picture 4 is new parts mingled with some of the cut out pieces.
Picture 5 is clamping the front control arm section into place. I wish I could have just welded it on. I ultimately had to cut the body mount off and move to align correctly.

**Frank** · November 25, 2020, 1:31pm

Oh yeah. I had to replace a broken trans mount. It completely separated and busted it up. I never noticed it while driving. However, I guess the engine was flexing enough so it was starting to tear the cat mounting bar bracket off the pipe. You can see it in pix 2 and 3. It’s 1/2" bar just welded in place to the pipe that goes into another rubber mounting hole bracket. Its supposed to be very mild SS and I was worried about welding it. Ironically, those are my best welds of the day and it fixed the cat pipe.

As usual - The life of owning an aging TJ - still love them.

**Tatonka** · November 26, 2020, 4:01pm

I wonder if that trans mount broke on the day that the airbag blew? Along with your drive shaft and my LCA…

If so that was a dangerous freaking log!

**Frank** · June 22, 2021, 6:16pm

Added a new/used (from Zuke) Rugged Ridge gas tank skid last weekend. Not a fun job. My old one was just about destroyed and rusted out from being rear-ended twice. A few weeks ago I installed a Rough Country forged front track bar I got from Alec. I replaced the bushings with oversized ones using larger bolts also - this thing is serious as TJ parts go! I also switched the steering linkage to Curry RockJock Currectlync.

**Frank** · November 15, 2021, 1:10pm

Just adding this for a placement holder so I’ll remember when I did it. New waterpump and hoses. Not a bad job, just time consuming. All bolts came out easily, ALL of them got antiseize put on them going back in. Rotella T6 10W30 change too. Those Fumoto valves drain pretty slow but at least you can put a hose on it and direct the oil into a container. Won’t need to change the oil for another year. Need to do the diffs, TC, and trans still - maybe in the spring.

**Frank** · November 28, 2022, 6:08pm

Just another place holder. Had to put a new top on it from AOAA destruction in September. Also a new/used driver-side front axle. The lower ball joint has some damage to the housing so water probably gets in. Lets see how long it lasts.